Khasab and Muscat, Oman

Oman is a sultanate on the Arabian peninsula, bordered by The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. We were on a cruise when we visited, so we didn’t get to explore as much of the area as I’d have liked. We stayed in the northern part of the country, only stopping in the cities of Khasab and the capital city of Muscat. This northern area is very rugged and arid – which makes for some beautiful scenery when you look at the juxtaposition between the rocky hills and the sea! We heard amazing things about the lush southern area around Salalah, but we didn’t get the chance to visit.

You do need a visa to visit this country. One of the advantages of going via the cruise line was they had everything pre-arranged.

It is worth noting that to be on a cruise in this part of the word means surrendering your passport. Not going to lie, surrendering it to the cruise line was very nerve-wracking… I kept thinking about all the travel advice I’d heard about never giving up your passport! We got our passports back right before going into Oman, but then had to surrender them to Omani government officials before we could get our visas. A lost visa was quite expensive to replace, so everyone was very careful with them. Once we got back to the ship we traded the visas back for our passports. The Official tourism website has some good information on visas if you happen to be flying in.

Khasab, Oman

We spent spent our first day in Oman touring the area around Khasab, which included a visit to the Khasab Fort. The fort wasn’t as big as I expected, but did house a cute museum which explained the history of the fort and the Omani culture. I really liked the Omani dhows which were inside the courtyard.

Muscat, Oman

Our next port of call was Muscat, which is the capital city. While in Muscat, we were able to visit both the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque and the Mutrah Souq.

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

The mosque is big and the inside is beautiful, but the gardens alone are worth the visit. Like all mosques in the area, they had separate entrances for men and women. I wore jeans, a head scarf, and a long sleeved sweater over a t-shirt and didn’t have any trouble getting in. If you do happen to wear something that is too revealing, they will make you put on an abaya, which they provide free of charge. During my first visit to a mosque I made the mistake of wearing a shirt with sleeves that were “too translucent”, according to the guard, so I had to borrow an abaya – not an unpleasant experience in and of itself, but very hot because you wear your own clothes underneath. My husband wore jeans and a t-shirt and didn’t have any issues.  

Mutrah Souq

Our next stop was the Mutrah Souq. The souq is a covered example of a traditional Arabian market. It’s big, and beautiful, and exciting… by far my favorite part of Muscat. While it’s not the biggest souq out there, it is the oldest in the area. I could have spent days exploring all the alleyways and shops of this bazar. The textiles shops in particular were my favorite – all this color jammed into a small storefront… You could look at one shop for hours and still not see all they had to offer. 

Bring cash, because you will want to practice your haggling skills. I’ve never seen or participated in price negotiations, and for some reason I expected it to be very fast paced and loud. I saw myself walking away from stalls when I didn’t get the right price, only to be called back when the person behind the counter realized I was serious. All things considered, it actually took on average about 30 minutes to buy from any store, versus the 3 minutes I’d expected. This time frame could have totally been us – maybe we just talk too much. But, the general feeling from our group was that it did take longer than expected. We’d go into a store, see something we liked, and ask the price. If we started discussing the price with the merchant and they realized we were serious about making a purchase, they would ask us to sit down and offer us tea or water. Then we’d make small talk for a while before getting back to the items in question. Everyone we interacted with spoke English, so language wasn’t a barrier.

Tips for shopping at the souq

1. Do some research beforehand and get a rough idea of how much the things you want cost.
   1. This blog is a good place to start your research on the Mutrah Souq (or Muscat in general)
2. Bring cash
3. Remember what the exchange rate is
4. Know how much you’re willing to spend for an item, and stick to your price. Just because you can’t get it in one shop doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find it elsewhere.
5. Don’t be afraid to spend time haggling the price down
6. Don’t be afraid to say “no” or walk away if you truly can’t come to an agreement you’re happy with

A souq within a souq: There were SO many jewelry stores. The “Gold Souq” is an entire section of the souq dedicated to (you guessed it!) GOLD jewelry. It’s fun to window shop, but even more fun to go inside and dream off all the jewelry you’ll never own because you’re taking trips to places like Oman 🙂 In one store we stumbled across a craftsman making jewelry. We started talking to the men in the store, and one thing led to another and all of a sudden we’re holding this gold bar which was being used to make a pair of earrings a few minutes earlier. This was right after the craftsman told us it was worth about $30k!

Food

Unfortunately, we ate most of our meals on our cruise ship. While we were at the Mutrah Souq, we did get the chance to eat at Bait Al Luban – an Omani restaurant about 5 minutes walk from the souq. The food here is amazing! The ambience was great and the staff were very accommodating. Try the traditional Omani coffee, it’s made with cardamom and rose water.  

I have 3 regrets from this trip – which in my mind just means I’ll need to go back soon:

1. Not eating enough Omani food (seriously, SO GOOD)
2. Not spending enough time in the souq
3. Not getting to see the tropical parts of the country

I hope you all get a chance to visit this beautiful sultanate!